Additions to the Geelong and District database are quite a mixture but it would be hard to go past the story of one of our local nurses who served during WWI – Sr Olive Laura THOMAS. Looking at the Geelong Infirmary and Benevolent Asylum WWI Roll of Honour [Visions & Realities: A history of the Geelong Infirmary & Benevolent Asylum], the list of nurses includes Nurse M J THOMAS and Nurse O THOMAS.

It is possible that the first should be Nurse M R THOMAS as two siblings – Margaret Rosetta THOMAS and Olive Laura THOMAS – left Melbourne on 6 December 1916 on the ship Orsova. Margaret, aged 31, enlisted 24 August 1916 and Olive, aged 25, enlisted 8 September 1916. Both girls served in France. Olive returned to Australia 26 November 1918 and resigned 19 December 1918 “due to family reasons” – perhaps to support her recently widowed mother. Margaret returned 4 January 1920. Both siblings ended up marrying. Margaret died in 1957 and Olive in 1968. The beautiful photo of Sr Olive Laura THOMAS is from the State Library of Victoria Collection.

Most people would question why Portsea, Sorrento and parts of the Mornington Peninsula are included in “Geelong and District” and more particularly the Geelong & District Database.

Perhaps we should look closer at the newspaper the Queenscliff Sentinel – which at various times during the 20th Century was known as … the Queenscliff sentinel, Drysdale, Portarlington & Sorrento advertiser and also the Queenscliff sentinel, Drysdale, St Leonards, Sorrento, Portsea, Portarlington, Point Lonsdale and Bellarine Shire advertiser!

There are already plenty of names in the Geelong & District Database from Portsea, Sorrento and Rye – from early church registers of Queenscliff – right through into the 21st century! Doctors, pilots, customs officers, military and many others crossed the short distance from Queenscliff to the lower Mornington Peninsula to service the needs of the people living there from choice or at the Quarantine facilities.

Have you thought about how you can help us reach our 2014 target of 1,500,000 entries in the Geelong & District Database?

These are the book indexes that have been added this time around. We now have 1,429,520 recordsin the Geelong and District database. This is what’s been added since the last major update on 15 December:

The Peninsula Story Book 1: Sorrento and Portsea – yesterday – Book – 543 entries

The Peninsula Story Book 2: Hell to Health – the history of Quarantine at Port Phillip Heads 1852-1966 – Book – 373 entries